


Different Yet The Same

by M3zzaTh3M3z



Category: Boku no Hero Academia
Genre: Character Study, Childhood, Childhood Friends, Gen, quirkless au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-23
Updated: 2017-12-12
Packaged: 2019-02-06 02:46:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12807948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/M3zzaTh3M3z/pseuds/M3zzaTh3M3z
Summary: Katsuki is quirkless.Izuku has one of the most envied quirks around.Would things really be so different?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a little something I started writing to relax. I haven’t written any BNHA before and I haven’t read all the manga so I may have some things off. I liked the idea of Izuku’s mother minding Bakugou after nursery so that’s what happens here. I hope you enjoy my take on how things might have changed.

By age three, Bakugou Katsuki already knew a lot. He knew All Might was the greatest, he knew he was going to surpass All Might someday and he knew Izuku was always there.

He was there at nursery, he followed the expeditions Katsuki led on the way home and welcomed Katsuki into his bedroom to play as his mum minded Katsuki while his parents worked late.

  
Some of the other kids laughed at Izuku and wondered aloud why Katsuki let him hang around. True, he was a bit annoying sometimes, but Katsuki didn't really mind. Already the other kids were starting to look at him in awe, but Izuku was the only one who really looked at him with the simple, pure smile of a friend. Even aged three, Katsuki could tell the funny little green haired boy was the sort of friend who would always be there.

 

By age four, Katsuki knew something was wrong. Everyone he knew had a quirk. Everyone except him and Izuku.

  
"Late developer," he heard adults say when they thought he wasn't listening.

  
"Lame," some of the other kids would mutter when they thought he was out of earshot.

  
"It's okay," Izuku said as they trudged home after a fight with a boy who'd dared to call them quirkless. "We'll get ours soon."  
"I know that," Katsuki snapped. "I'll have the best quirk ever."  
"Me too!"  
"You can't have the best if I have the best. You can have third best. After me and All Might."  
Izuku looked delighted.

 

By age five, Katsuki knew what was wrong. He was quirkless.

He’d known for a while really, but he’d pretended not to. He’d pretended not to pay attention as doctor’s prodded him, pretended not to not see how the other kids were now drawn to Izuku and his fire breath, pretended to be asleep as his parents argued over how to tell him.

  
He stopped pretending because of Izuku. Izuku, who’d never once boasted of his quirk. Izuku, who still looked at him in awe. Izuku, who’d played at being heroes with Katsuki almost every day as long as they could remember.

  
“Let’s play something else today, Kacchan,” he timidly suggested. “Why don’t we be detectives instead?”

  
Katsuki knew he was trying to be kind, but if even Izuku had given up on him, it had to be time to face the facts.

 

By age six, Katsuki had long given up on ever getting his quirk, but he hadn’t abandoned his dream.

  
He read every book he could find, even hard ones with kanji he couldn’t understand just in case the pictures helped. He wrote down all he learned in little notebooks. At Izuku’s house they no longer played games. Instead, they taught themselves martial arts from videos online. Izuku would quickly tire and content himself with watching but Katsuki kept going for hours. There was more than one way to become a hero.


	2. Chapter 2

By age ten, Katsuki had already earned his green belt. He’d joined a traditional martial arts club that forbade the use of quirks. Most dojos wouldn’t allow the quirkless in anymore, allegedly for their own safety. It was bullshit. They just didn’t want people like him around. They didn’t want the shame of him kicking their asses. 

He didn’t make friends at the dojo. The group was a mixture of kids with old fashioned families who want them to learn to fight the traditional way and a few other quirkless. Katsuki couldn’t decide which set he hates more. The quirkless kids were exactly the kind of weak losers he resented being lumped in with, but those with quirks and won’t use them are just as despicable. Anyone who can’t take advantage of their natural power doesn’t deserve it.

 

By age eleven, Katsuki couldn’t remember the last time he talked to Izuku. He made excuses not to be around - extra training sessions at the dojo, extra studying in the library - until he just stopped bothering. He didn’t have to explain himself to anybody, least of all that shrimp.

He could remember the last time he touched Izuku though. They’d been in the cafeteria queue. Izuku was being his usual bright and bubbly self, chattering with the group of idiots that seemed to flock to him these days and Katsuki was stood behind, fuming at every minute he was forced to breathe the same air as these lame-ass fuckmunches. He had no idea what anyone was talking about and couldn’t care less. 

Until suddenly Izuku’s eyes were on him, still gleaming with admiration after all those years.

“What do you think, Kacchan?” Just like he used to, back when everyone was always asking the same thing. Now, he was the only one who cared what Katsuki thought about whatever the hell it was. Katsuki didn’t even care what he thought and still this dweeb thought he was worth asking.

“Who the hell cares?” Katsuki snarled and felt the buzz of adrenaline at the sight of the pack’s suddenly terrified faces. “It’s all fucking pointless.”

Izuku trembled but didn’t back away. Why should he? Katsuki was only a quirkless.  
“I thought it was kinda important,” Izuku said and somehow dared to smile. As though Katsuki’s rage was nothing. It made sense though. It’s not like Katsuki himself gave a damn about any other quirkless.

“That’s because you don’t understand anything.” Katsuki tackled Izuku to the ground. His small body smacked into the ground and Katsuki braced his body for the searing pain he knew should come next but there was nothing. Izuku looked up at him with big green eyes and even now they hadn’t lost their softness.

“Stop it, you shitty nerd!” Katsuki raised a fist and was glad to see Izuku flinch but his body wouldn’t respond fast enough. Before he could punch he felt the grip of the super-strong rock kid around his wrist.

Katsuki stood up and yanked his hand back. “Not worth my time anyway,” he muttered to the small crowd that had gathered. He stormed off before anyone could ask questions, furious at Izuku. He could have half incinerated him if he’d wanted to, but he’d been spared. The worst part was, everyone else knew it too.

Since then, Izuku’s attempts to connect had become less and less frequent, until they dropped away entirely. It was understandable. Things were better off this way. He was sure it would stop hurting soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one turned out heftier than expected! I hope I’m getting my idea about how they’d still drift apart etc across... this is my first time doing a sort of ‘snapshot’ style fic but it’s quite interesting to try something new :)   
> I’d love it if you could leave a comment letting me know what you think!


	3. Chapter 3

By age thirteen, Katsuki was known as a loner. That was the way he liked it. Everyone ignored him at school and avoided him at the dojo. It was a little different online - not entirely by choice.

After being sent to the school counsellor for ‘anger management’ more times than he could be arsed to count, Katsuki was forcibly signed up to an online community of quirkless.

“It might help to find others like you,” the counsellor had suggested. Katsuki had rolled his eyes but still checked it out. Not to find people like him but to reassure himself he was different. He was better than them.

A cursory glance proved him right. There were hundreds of threads about coping with bullying, what dreams they’d given up on, how they hoped to carve out a tiny corner for themselves in the world and they all had the same weary tone. These kids had already given up.

Katsuki made a single post. Something about how he was going to get into UA and become the number one hero rather than mope around doing nothing like the rest of them. He couldn’t remember the exact words. But others could.

It became a rallying cry for them. Overnight it became the most popular post on the site. Other posts started cropping up, declaring their ambitions for the future, thanking him for the motivation. His inbox was flooded with hundreds of messages from people desperate to tell him how he’d inspired them, how they were now going after almost impossible goals, sharing their good luck wishes and reaching out the digital hands of friendship. 

Katsuki ignored them all. He had no need for people like that. 

 

At fourteen, Katsuki was exactly where he needed to be. Top of the class, stocked with an encyclopaedic knowledge of every working hero and already a first dan brown belt. If he’d been born with a quirk, even a shit one, nobody would doubt he’d be a top class hero someday. As it was he could barely convince the school to let him take the entrance exam. Sensei had mentioned it during class and though nobody dared say anything to his face, he could tell they were all sniggering behind his back.

All except one, of course. Izuku approached Katsuki after school with an idiotic smile. “It’ll be great going to the UA together, won’t it?”

Katsuki had fumed off. He was still fuming as he walked home under a bridge. Izuku had a way of pissing him off.

He didn’t hear the villain until it was too late. Sludge engulfed him, smothering his nose and mouth. His training kicked in and tried every move he could, but his attacks passed through the villain easily. He couldn’t breathe now and his vision was darkening, but through the gloom a shining figure appeared.

“Have no fear boy, for I am here!”

Katsuki lay on the ground panting and wiped the residual muck from his eyes. His heart pounded as he took in the figure of the number one hero All Might, as brilliant in person as every second of footage conveyed.

“Thank goodness you’re okay,” All Might said, extending a hand to Katsuki. 

He batted it away and pushed himself up. “I was doing fine. Another few seconds and I’d have got him myself.” 

All Might’s grin didn’t waver. “Excellent. I do apologise for interfering but I became concerned when I couldn’t see you use a quirk. Is it perhaps psychically based?”

“I don’t have one.”

“My goodness. Then how were you planning to defeat him?”

“How can I possibly be a hero if I can’t even deal with small fry like that?”

“You’re going to be a hero, young man?”   
All Might clapped Katsuki on the shoulder with such force he struggled not to flinch. “Then I wish you the best of luck. Here, a lucky charm for you.” His image blurred and now there was an open exercise book in Katsuki’s hands. “Farewell!” All Might shouted and leapt away. 

Katsuki looked down at the book. It was his maths book, already autographed right across the page. Now he’d have to redo the lesson notes. Fucking fantastic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is turning out a lot longer than expected so I thought I’d split the last chapter in two. Thank you so much for reading I really didn’t expect anyone to at all!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ve finally reached the end. I wrote this section by hand while my phone and laptop were gone and then typed it up so it’s hopefully a little more polished than the rest. I hope you enjoy.

Katsuki stormed down the narrow street with a grimace ready for anyone who so much as glanced his way. Even wannabe tough guys veered away when he walked like this. It wasn’t because All Might had pissed him off any more than he was usually pissed. No, it was because the looks from strangers let him momentarily experience how things should have been. 

He should have been powerful. 

He should have a quirk. 

He should be looked at like that by everyone. 

A yelp pricked up his ears as he passed an alley and he instinctively ran towards it. He was not the only one. 

He arrived just in time to see Izuku spray a breath of flames before the great dark sludge villain engulfed him. 

A woman in the crowd bought her hand to her mouth. “Such a strong quirk did nothing...”

Katsuki shoved by her to the throng of heroes holding the crowd back. “Why aren’t you shitheads doing anything?”

They all turned to him, guilt plain beneath the masks. “My quirk isn’t...”

The chorus of weak excuses was immediately tuned out. He tried to steady his breathing as he turned over everything he knew about the villain in his mind, searching for a solution. 

Then it happened, so fast he wasn’t sure he’d really seen it at all, yet it remained in his mind with perfect slow-motion clarity. 

For a moment Izuku had shaken off part of the villain and managed to snatch a breath as he struggled. He was crying but Katsuki swore they locked eyes and in that instant his desperation was replaced with hope, and awe. 

A second later he disappeared into the writhing muck again. 

Fury rose in Katsuki. He sprinted headlong at the villain and plunged in his hand. He wouldn’t allow anyone to take away the only person who looked at him like that. 

 

Afterwards, All Might spoke to him again. Asked if he’d take on more villains, even when he couldn’t win. 

Stupid question. Of course he could win. 

All Might offered a way to make that true. 

Katsuki accepted before he even finished. 

 

Now fifteen, Bakugou Katsuki is exactly where he always wanted to be, stood at the gates of UA on his first day. All Might may still be the greatest, but not for long. 

He glanced around and scowled. Much as he hated him, it felt right to see the small, green haired boy running up the street. After all this time, Izuku was still there.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed this fic! I'd really appreciate any comments you might have :)
> 
> If you did enjoy it, I also have works in the Haikyuu, Ace Attorney, Widdershins and Supernatural fandoms you may like. 
> 
> You can find writing tips and read about my published romance novella "A Grey Valentine's" on my blog: https://conwaywrites.wordpress.com


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